St. Martin

[N18d02:50, W063d05:49]

We decided to skip the Virgin Islands. This was a really tough decision as we were really looking forward to going back to the British Virgins for their beauty and easy navigating. Thanks to Katrina, we are about a month behind schedule so we had to skip something. We really want to see St. Martin, St. Barts, Nevis, Guadeloupe,Iles Des Saintes, Dominica, Martinique, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, The Grendines and Grenda. The good news is, these islands are all very close together. Our insurance says we have to be as far down as Grenada by July 1st. Our hurricane goal is to be in Trindad by July 1st. We think this will be another rough hurricane year and we would rather be farther south then Grenada.

We arrived in St. Martin yesterday at 8:30 am after a 26 hour passage from the Spanish Virgin Islands. We were traveling with Dragon Fly, July Indian and Wasabi. We had a wonderfully calm motor sail. Dolphins played in our bow wake for a long time. It was so cool! Our friends Cliff and Melanie from Clift's Note met us in the harbor as soon as we went under the bridge at St. Martin. We were so excited to see them. They showed the whole crew their favorite French pastry, sandwich shop in Marigot. Yum! Yum! I have been longing for French pastries. After the yummy lunch Glenn and I went on a extremely technical hike with Cliff and Melanie. Oh my God! We thought it would be great to walk up to a scenic view; four hours later we were beginning to wonder why we did not bring a map and GPS with us. We got a little concerned when it was 5:00 pm and we were very lost in the woods. We finally found our way out, we were on the other side of island in the Dutch territory. We took a taxi back to our dinghies. I think it goes without saying we slept great.

Michele